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Tuesday, January 31, 2006

To Mousa Abu Marzuk, Deputy Chief of Hamas’ Political Bureau in Damascus, HAMAS’ triumph is an important springboard towards the establishment of the Caliphate ­– a global Islamic state, where life would be dictated by the Shari’a. READ MORE

In a statement Abu Marzuk made on January 26, following HAMAS’ sweeping victory of the Palestinian legislative elections, he said that HAMAS, the Palestinian branch of the Muslim Brotherhood (MB), is reaping the fruits of its efforts over the last six decades. It was established in Palestine in 1936 - not in 1987, as most mistakenly think. Since then, the movement, according to Abu Marzuk, has carried out its political, social agenda, including Dawa (Prosetylization) and Jihad.

The international community’s calls to prevent HAMAS’ participation in the election, led HAMAS to run under the name of the "Change and Reform List." Yet, this blatant fraud was accepted by all. No one raised his voice to point out the obvious fact that HAMAS simply changed its name for the election. Now, that HAMAS won 74 seats of the 132 seat Palestinian parliament, the world is “shocked.” Yet, it is the West’s willful blindness that facilitated HAMAS participation and victory.

Unless the international community takes action to nullify the results of the Palestinian election, HAMAS will spread the MB’s malignant agenda, which is identical to their own, far beyond the Middle East.

Both the MB and Hamas are exploiting the U.S. call for democratization in the Middle East, using free elections to gain legitimate political power. Indeed, in December 2005, the MB won 88 seats in the 454-member Egyptian Parliament. This is while neither organization has changed its charter, or is likely to do so.

Among the many permanent, deleterious features of Shari’a is a system that subjugates and oppresses non-Muslims. It requires non-Muslims to convert to Islam or pay the jizya tax, a form of extortion, creating a “contract” (dhimma) that “guarantees” the infidels' lives and possessions. In a recent essay Dr. Andrew Bostom quotes the Arabic lexicographer, E.W. Lane, who bluntly calls the tax on “free non-Muslim subjects …compensation for not being slain.”

The system's “obligations” institutionalize discrimination (dhimmitude) that targets Jews and Christians only. Others, such Hindus, and Buddhists have a choice to convert or to be slaughtered. These regulations prohibit them from possessing arms, ringing church bells, testifying in courts, building and restoring houses of worship while restricting many other civil rights as well. Like Nazi regulations, the Shari’a also require non-Muslims to wear special, identifying clothes. These key features of the Shari’a and Islamic ideology as called for by the MB and HAMAS, are political, not merely religious.

The spiritual leader of Hamas, the late Ahmad Yassin said: "The 21st century is the century of Islam," and his successor Mahmoud Zahar says, "Israel will disappear and after it the US." With its recent victory, HAMAS seems to be closer to reaching this goal.

Compare Hamas statements and its charter to those of al-Qaeda, Hizbullah and other Islamist organizations. All strive to establish a caliphate encircling the globe.Al-Qaeda says: "We will turn the White House and the British parliament into mosques," as documented by Jonathan Dahoah Halevi, director of Orient Research Group in Toronto.

It comes as no surprise, therefore, that Iran, a major HAMAS benefactor, is celebrating the terrorist movement’s victory. Its Foreign Ministry spokesman Hamid Reza Assefi, said that Iran "congratulates the great Palestinian people, the Hamas movement, all Palestinians combatants, and the great Islamic Ummah.” And to ensure the HAMAS agenda, Iran is now considering financial aid to the Palestinians, “if Europe and the US cease funding the Palestinian Authority.” Saudi Arabia, who funded HAMAS all along, also promised $100 million to the Palestinian Authority. Clearly, both totalitarian Islamist regimes are stepping up to support the first democratically elected Jihadist government.

HAMAS’ victory, therefore, should be seen as an important realization of the MB agenda, not merely as a localized development. In Jordan, the Muslim Brotherhood “is demanding "true democracy" from the Jordanian king in order to win in elections there,“ while the efforts to impose the Islamist agenda are making strides in Europe.

Denmark, for example, has in the last few years become a host country for various Muslim radical groups, mostly offshoots of the Muslim Brotherhood. The most prominent of these is Hizb ut-Tahrir. Like HAMAS, members of Hizb ut-Tahrir have been connected with the recruitment of fighters for the Taliban, as well as membership in the al-Qaeda terrorist networks. Like HAMAS, they too, under the banner of democracy, are allowed to pursue their Islamofacist agenda

According to Jonathan Dahoah Halevi, director of Orient research Group in Toronto, who follows Islamist organizations, they view Denmark as an easy target for the spreading of Islam, a springboard from which to renew the Muslim occupation of Europe. As Sheikh Issam Amayra warned in a recent sermon: "Three percent of the Muslims in Denmark constitute a threat to the future of the kingdom of Denmark. …our Danish brothers will manage to bring Islam to all the homes of the Danish citizens. Allah will grant them the victory in their country in order to raise the Caliphate in Denmark. Afterwards the citizens of the Caliphate (which will be raised in Denmark) will wage war on Oslo, [and] they will fight their neighboring Scandinavian countries in order to join their lands to the territory of the Caliphate. Then they will wage a holy war and spread the teachings of Islam to the rest of Europe, until they reach the original city of Medina.”

Given the global aspirations of these MB splinter groups and the Islamist nature of their agenda, it seems that the West’s unwillingness to recognize their threat to our democracy will enable them to exploit it until those who survive, will have to do so under the MB’s inspired Caliphate.

Dr. Rachel Ehrenfeld is author of Funding Evil; How Terrorism is Financed—and How to Stop It, Director of American Center for Democracy and a member of the Committee on the Present Danger. She is the world’s leading expert on Narco-Terrorism and a noteworthy authority on international terrorism, political corruption, money laundering, drug trafficking, and organized crime. Most recently, she was a consult for the Department of Defense’s Threat Reduction Strategy.